3,500 victims, 185 charges: How ‘catfish’ stalker drove US girl to suicide

A prolific “catfish” criminal whose brutal campaign of global online blackmail targeted thousands of young victims and drove a 12-year-old American girl to suicide was sentenced to life in prison on Friday.

Alexander McCartney, 26, posed online as a teenage girl to befriend young women around the world on the social media app Snapchat, forcing them to send them indecent photos, then threatening to make them public.

He pleaded guilty to 185 charges involving 70 children and was told he would spend at least 20 years behind bars.

Detective Chief Superintendent Eamon Corrigan of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said McCartney was a “despicable child predator” whose offending occurred on an “industrial scale”.

“Sitting in his childhood bedroom in Newry (in Northern Ireland), he began his crime spree as a teenager and built what can only be described as a pedophile enterprise,” he told reporters outside the court. “

He said, “McCartney is a dangerous, relentless, cruel pedophile.”

Cimarron Thomas, from West Virginia in the United States, took her own life in May 2018 after McCartney demanded that she engage in sexual acts with her younger sister, in which he forced himself on her.

Eighteen months later, her troubled father Ben Thomas also died by suicide.

Belfast Crown Court had previously heard that other victims were in the United States as well as Australia and New Zealand.

‘sexually deranged’

In sentencing McCartney, Judge John O’Hara said he was not aware of any other case in which an offender had used social media to cause “such horrific and devastating harm to young girls, including girls as young as 12.” The girl’s death should also be included.” ,

“It’s really hard to think of any sexually deviant person who poses a greater risk than this defendant,” he said.

O’Hara said McCartney had no remorse for his crime and ignored “numerous pleas for mercy”.

Even after his third arrest, he said, the former computer science student continued to commit crimes “in an even more sinister, dramatic and horrifying manner.”

McCartney had previously pleaded guilty to murder in connection with Cimarron’s death.

Corrigan told reporters that McCartney had also started a countdown when Cimarron threatened to kill himself with a legally owned gun and told her: “I don’t care.”

“He may have pulled the trigger himself,” he said. “There’s only one place for him, it’s behind bars.”

McCartney also pleaded guilty to 59 counts of blackmail, dozens of charges relating to making and distributing indecent images and dozens of charges of inciting children to engage in sexual activity.

‘Horrible’

Police in Northern Ireland worked with other forces internationally to bring him to justice.

Derek Gordon, the US Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations based in Washington DC, praised the investigation and prosecution of McCartney by his Northern Irish counterparts, calling it “nothing short of brilliant”.

He said, “Alexander McCartney has committed some terrible and disturbing crimes and he deserves every minute he spends in prison.”

Catherine Kierans of the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service said McCartney was estimated to have targeted 3,500 girls, some as young as 10.

However, despite exhaustive efforts, many of his victims were never identified.

He urged any child or young person to seek help if they are being threatened by someone asking for sexual images or videos.

“This is a crime. You are not guilty. Please speak to a trusted adult,” he said, praising the bravery of the victims who helped convict McCartney.

And he called on parents and carers to talk to their children about keeping them safe online.

“Only by highlighting these issues can we break the cycle of trust that abuses privacy,” he said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)